The Ironic End of Joash in Chronicles - Fontes - Lutheran School of ...

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12 They would put the silver which had beenweighed out into the hands of the workmenin charge of the house of Yahweh, and theypaid it out to the carpenters and buildersworking in the house of Yahweh,1 zAnd the king and Jehoiada gave it tothose who did have charge of the work ofthe house of Yahweh, and they hiredmasons and carpenters to renew the houseof Yahweh, and also workers in iron andbronze to repair the house of Yahweh.1 3 and to the masons and the stone cutters,to buy timber and quarry stone to repair thedamage to the house of Yahweh, and for allthe expenses of the temple to repair it.13 Those who were engaged in the projectworked, and the repairing progressed intheir hands. They restored the house ofGod to its proper condition, and theystrengthened it.14However, no silver basins, snuffers,sprinkling bowls or trumpets -any kind ofvessel of gold and silver-were made fromthe silver which was brought into the houseof Yahweh.14When they had finished, they broughtthe rest of the silver before the king, and hemade with it vessels for the house ofYahweh, both for the service and for theburnt offerings, and ladles, and vessels ofgold and silver. And they offered burntofferings in the house of Yahweh regularlyall the days of Jehoiada.15 For they paid it to the workmen, andthey repaired the house with it.1 6There was no accounting made with thepeople into whose hands they put thesilver to pay the workmen, for they dealthonestly.17 Silver from guilt offerings and sinofferings were not brought to the house ofYahweh, but it was for the priests.I call attention to the following significant changes:1. The Chronicler adds a reference to the Levites in v. 5 and has Joash assign to them andto the priests the duty of actively collecting money for the repair of the temple. TheChronicler also changes the collection to an annual event, perhaps reflecting thecustoms of his time (see Neh. 10:33 [Eng. v. 32]). Joash criticized the Levites throughJehoiada for not collecting the funds rapidly enough. He also interpreted this collection
as a tax legislated by Moses originally for the tabernacle (Exod. 30:11-16; 38:25-26) butnow121due to the temple as well. The need for repairs is laid at the feet of Athaliah and hersons 16 in v. 7, who are accused of breaking into the temple and using its votive giftsfor the Baals. The damage to the temple was not due to negligence by the clergy. InKings, on the other hand, Joash had asked the priests to provide funds for repair of thetemple from their own regular income, and he discovered that no repairs to the templehad been made after twenty-three years! He then reprimanded Jehoiada for notrepairing the house and ruled that the priests would receive no more money directly,although they would not be required to finance repairs to the temple.2. In Kings, Joash proposed that the contributions be deposited in a chest he placed inthe temple, thus avoiding the priests as intermediaries. One of the king's officials andthe high priest 17 would count the money and turn it over to those supervising therepairs in the temple. Cultic utensils did not have to be financed from these funds, andthe priests were provided with restricted income from the guilt and sin offerings. TheChronicler moved the chest outside the gate of the temple where laypeople coulddeposit their money directly and not violate the holiness of the sanctuary. Theproclamation reported in 2 Chron. 24:9 may reflect a communication strategy fromthe Persian period (cf. 2 Chron. 30:5; 36:22; Ezra 1:1; 10:7; Neh. 8:10). 18 In anycase, the people joyfully paid this tax in great amounts, thus setting an example forthe Chronicler's audience. Both the king and the high priest in Chronicles arerepresented by an official in the counting of the money, correcting an impressionfrom Kings that the high priest and the scribe of the king were equal in rank. InChronicles the high priest is roughly equal to the king himself. Excess funds gatheredfrom the people were used to finance or provide raw material for cultic vessels - indirect contradiction to Kings. The existence of such surplus silver emphasizes the sizeof the people's gifts. Since there were no longer kings to provide these cultic vesselsafter the exile, the Chronicler may be providing an etiology for the provision of culticvessels in his own time. 1916. Athaliah had attempted to wipe out the royal family (2 Chron. 22:10), and variousmembers of the family had been killed in earlier incidents (2 Chron. 21:4; 22:1). Perhapsthe term "sons" here should be understood as her "adherents."17. This may indicate mutual suspicion between the king and the priesthood that couldonly be assuaged by their counting the funds together. On the other hand, there is norequired accountability for those supervising the repair work. Cf. 2 Kings 22:7 // 2 Chron.34:12. The contractors were trusted more than the priests!18. See Michael Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel (Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1985), 159.19. Wilhelm Rudolph, Chronikbacher (HAT 21; Tubingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1955), 277.
Page 1 and 2: 11The Ironic End of Joashin Chronic
Page 3 and 4: 8. GKC 158b. Cf. Gen. 30:18; 31:49;
Page 5: M e priests agreed not to take silv
Page 9: willing to preclude 130 as an accur
Page 12 and 13: Joash." It is unclear whether the M
Page 14: Yahweh and to his temple.34. The ve

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